Tag: Cosmetics

Over at Refinery 29, Valis Vicenty investigates how Marilyn’s beauty tips hold up today – saying ‘yes’ to bedroom eyes and contoured lips, but ‘no’ to Vaseline. The article rather overestimates the influence of Max Factor – Marilyn perfected many of her unique flourishes by herself, or with Fox makeup man Allan ‘Whitey’ Snyder – but is otherwise an interesting look at how new technologies have streamlined our routines.

In an article for Allure, Lauren Hubbard explores the contents of Marilyn’s make-up drawer…

“While you might be imagining Monroe’s vanity drawers filled to the brim with gleaming gold lipstick tubes, pearl-handled brushes, and shiny powder compacts, Monroe didn’t keep a ton of makeup on hand—most likely because she trusted those things to makeup artists, like Allan ‘Whitey’ Snyder, who was so close with the star that he even served as a pallbearer at her funeral. No, Monroe’s makeup drawers were far simpler than the stockpiles of makeup packed into our own drawers. She was even—dare we say it?—practical.

That’s practical in the most glamour-girl sense of the word, of course. The drawer’s contents, which sold at auction in 2005, included a box of Flents earplugs (they’re still around, so you can block out your obnoxious neighbors the same way Marilyn Monroe did!); a matchbook from the Maisonette, a nightclub in the St. Regis hotel in New York City; an eyelash curler that looks nearly identical to the one you probably have in your own makeup bag; a set of Martha Lorraine false eyelashes (sadly, these aren’t still around) and the box they came in; a gilded comb; a pack of fantastically named Scoldy Lox Glamour Guards bobby pins; lilac Starry Eyes eye shadow; a fancy-looking lip brush; and a braided hair extension.”

Scarlett Johansson‘s 2009 photo shoot for Dolce & Gabbana cosmetics was very obviously Marilyn-inspired. This year she is going gothic, but the leopardskin wrap reminds me ever so slightly of this Eve Arnold portrait…